Eating before training

Michael O Leary

Hi all,

Rather than starving myself so that I don't go to the gym on an empty stomach how long should I leave it after having a

• meal
• sandwhich
• fruit

Thanks in advance,

Michael O'Leary
www.wingtsun-escrima.ie

Sonderval

I usually eat some food, usually a few fruits, an hour before I hit the gym. I've read that this is the norm (albeit perhaps more protein oriented) - the logic being that one needs to fuel their work out and to avoid feeling light headed during the session.

yomchi

Michael O Leary wrote:

Hi all,

Rather than starving myself so that I don't go to the gym on an empty stomach how long should I leave it after having a

• meal
• sandwhich
• fruit

Thanks in advance,

Michael O'Leary
www.wingtsun-escrima.ie

Depending on your goals Michael, people who wish to loose weight will/can train cardio on an empty stomach. For those interested in building muscle, having the body replenished with glycogen/carbs for energy and BCAA's to prevent muscle breakdown before training is essential.

So it depends on what you eat that will decide when you should train after it. I like to give it a few hours, I train morning time so I'll have my breakfast at about 6.30am then train at half ten with an N.O booster before hand like Xplod which has BCAA's to prevent breakdown.

Michael O Leary

Thanks guys,

I described last week in a post that I would feel shattered after training. However I was training in the morning with an empty stomach. Now I doing it later in the day after carbohydrates (fruit/bread) and I feel a lot better afterwards.

Sonderval. Can you explain what you meant by protein orientated and eating fruit? How about eating fruit 10 minutes before working out? Jon, you eat 4 hours before working out but I assume it is more than fruit. Is there a minimum time between fruit and training? Also what is an N.O. booster and what is the minimum time before eating/drinking it and training?

This is great.

Michael O'Leary
www.wingtsun-escrima.ie

yomchi

Michael O Leary wrote:

Thanks guys,

I described last week in a post that I would feel shattered after training. However I was training in the morning with an empty stomach. Now I doing it later in the day after carbohydrates (fruit/bread) and I feel a lot better afterwards.

Sonderval. Can you explain what you meant by protein orientated and eating fruit? How about eating fruit 10 minutes before working out? Jon, you eat 4 hours before working out but I assume it is more than fruit. Is there a minimum time between fruit and training? Also what is an N.O. booster and what is the minimum time before eating/drinking it and training?

This is great.

Michael O'Leary
www.wingtsun-escrima.ie

Michael,

This morning I had 4 ring of pineapple, 100g porridge, 60g of a suppplement called TripleX which has 30g whey, L-Arginine, Creatine EE, Glutamine all wrapped into one, I had it at 7. Went back to bed heading training now for 10am.. the reason I give it a good 3 hours at least is the make sure its well digested for the N.O Booster. An N.O booster is a Nitric Oxide stimulater, which contains the amino acid L-Arginine. Arginine raises Nitric Oxide levels in the blood giving a pre-workout boost, during the workout N.O widens the the blood vessells enabling stacks (not stack!) of nutrients to flood the muscles, creating hefty pumps also. The N.O booster I use is called Xplod from NutritionX, it also has high levels of L-Tyrosine for concentration and mental sharpness, which keeps you 'in the zone' as the say while you train.

For an N.O booster to work effectively, its best taken on an empty stomach. The beauty of Xplod is it carries Branch chain amino acids (BCAA's) which prevent muscle breakdown during training, so its the only option of the N.O boosters to take before training. You would take it about 45 mins before training.

So aswell as the NO booster, my body has been doused with comlex or slow release carbs, whey, creatine, and glutamine as well as fructose for glycogen replacement in the liver from the pineapple first thing every morning!

Hope that helps

Superdub2

i get up at 5.45 and have a bowl of all bran, then bout 6.45 i take No Xplode and im on the weights floor at 7.30 and it seems to work well for me

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Michael O Leary

This is good guys and while I am asking more basic questions I am taking in all the other advice.

Supplements aside for the moment, what should be the minimum period between eating and then training?

And how long after training should leave it before eating again?

Rather than what you guys/gals do personally can you give me the general recommended guidelines?

Regards,

Michael O'Leary
www.wingtsun-escrima.ie

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Michael O Leary

Hi Dave,

I was in the Gym yesterday and asked one of the big guys who makes smoothies about it. He said that there is a window of opportunity for an hour to eat after training and it is important to eat in that hour otherwise some type of gain is lost. Can anyone expand on this?

Regards,

Michael O'Leary
www.wingtsun-escrima.ie

Dragan

Michael O Leary wrote:

Hi Dave,

I was in the Gym yesterday and asked one of the big guys who makes smoothies about it. He said that there is a window of opportunity for an hour to eat after training and it is important to eat in that hour otherwise some type of gain is lost. Can anyone expand on this?

Hey Michael,

i'm not entirely sure what your training goals are but i will assume that one of them is to gain strenght?

When your in the gym lifting weights or doing pretty much anything else you are doing damage to your muscles. Muscle fibres are tearing ever so slightly as you perform your reps and sets.

In order to do this work your muscles you stored energy ( glycogen which is derived from carbs that you eat, ATP which is derived from creatine that you can get from red meats etc or supplement with and amino acids as well. )

After you finish your workout you are running low in all these things and it is important to replenish them so that all those little tears in the muscle begin to repair as soon as possible and you can be at 100% quicker and be ready to train again as soon as possible.

Straight after your workout i would suggest you have a whey shake, as this is a very fast digested protein and will get into your system quickly, and a fast digest carb as well. One of my favourites is Liga!

About an hour to an hour and a half later you should be able to have a whole food meal, such as steak, chicken or fish and some rice, potatoes and veg etc.

When it comes to before the gym, i have some fruit and some whey about an hour before i train.... but i will eat consitently throughout the day, roughly every 2 and a half to three hours. This is to ensure that i remain "anabolic" i.e my system has enough nutrients, amino acids, glycogen etc to ensure that my damaged muscles are repairing and that i do not go into a "catabolic" state.

Catabolic means that you have not eating a source or protein in the last few hours....your body's only stored amino acids are muscles, so it will begin to break down you hard earned muscle for amino acids.....the long and the short of it is that your muscle won't repair, growth will be sacrificed and recovery compromised.

I would suggest you post exactly what your goals are so we can better assist you!

yomchi

One of my favourites is Liga!

Interesting! I've been looking for some different kinds of carbs to mix around in the day. Whats the break down of Liga?

Ta!

yomchi

Michael, what gym do you train in?